Wow, where to start? Tonight was an amazing night. We made so many new 
friends, and almost all of them musicians. For starters there was Brian, whose buddy was a wounded marine. He had been shot in the leg and had his truck blown up by an rpg. He was deaf in one of his ears because of the diesel fuel that flodded into it after the crash. He did not appear wounded at all, and was nice guy, and was awfully young. Brian had a bunch of friends there. But before the open mic even got started, there was David Morgan. He was actually booked to play the hour and a half before the open mic. He was an older guy, with a super sweet Gibson acoustic, and a thin, beautiful voice. We got there just as he was finishing up, and he and I got to talking. Turns out he is part of the Austin Songwriter's Group, which is the the Austin equivalent of the Winston-Salem chapter of the Nashville Songwriter's Association that I am a part of. He had neard of Linne Black, the lady who leads our group. She is connected everywhere it seems! He shared a lot of information 
about living in Austin as a musician, booking shows, pursuing the music industy, and so on. He is trying to tour some himself, and wants to get over to Asheville and some other spots in NC to play some shows. I offered to help him out when he comes this way. Super nice guy. Next on the list of interesting people we met tonight is Young Gangsta Bone. He's a fan of Kayte and came all the way from Dallas (3 hours) to see her! Young Gangsta Bone, as he calls himself on youtube and in his music, did a cover of Kayte's song "Soaked You In" and posted it on youtube. We had heard he was gonna come to the show, so were all interested to meet him. He also posts his own raps, and "Tinkerbell" was a band favorite. We had no idea what to expect, but turns out the guy is super nice. He's soft spoken, and kind. He came with his dad, and they travel all over the country detailing and repairing and transporting supercars for pro athletes. YGB, as we called him, hung out all night talking to Kayte and Scott and Kevin, and I could tell he was really glad to be there. It was another cool fan moment for Kayte, and for all of us really. He also took video of us and Kayte and has posted it on youtube. Then there was Maggie, the host of the open mic. She had bright red hair, wore a long flowing gown with no shoes, and introduced all the performers. The first guy up was Michael Pearson. He wore a tie, and carried himself like a young Lyle Lovett might've. He sang with a Texas twang about being a cat, and made all kinds of crazy noises with mouth during the song, that you just couldn't believe, made more incredible by the fact that he made all these sounds work in the song! Then we got to play, and the crowd and Maggie really liked us. We played I Miss the Explosions and I'm Gonna Kiss You. Everyone was limited to 2 songs because of a good turnout of people wanting to play, but when we finished, the crowd cheered us and Maggie invited us to play another song. That was pretty cool, and we played Miss Monsoon to more cheers. She did the same thing for Kayte after us. Among the other performers, some real standouts were Milan, who played acoustic bass solo and sang, and it was like this avante garde punk metal. But solo voice and acoustic bass. It was an impressive display, and an ambitious 
performance, but she pulled it off. She let me play 
her sweet Tacoma bass for a while afterwards. I sat outside and played Somewhere Else Than Here and wrote another solo bass groove. An artist drew my portrait while I was playing the bass. I think he would've given it to me, but preferred to trade art for art, so I traded him an EP for it. We met this very funny and outgoing, very short girl named Denise. She was so cool! She was not short on voice though, she sang Summertime from Porgy and Bess a capella and it was great. Later on, a woman in African dress got on stage with a big djembe and a tambourine. For her first song, she sang and played tambourine , and for her second song, she sang and lightly played the big djembe. Her voice was the blues. She was soul in person. It was electrifying. Everyone was transfixed. As soon as I could I reached into the bag and got out the video camera and got as much of it as I could recorded. Her name was Onyee. I didn't even get to speak to her, but she was amazing. She had the crowd in the 
palm of her hand, and then she fed us sorrow and redemption, love and loss, beauty and heartache. I have never heard anyone make so much music with just a tambourine. It was entire drum kit in her hands. It was like she took the little tambourine and coaxed more out of it than you thought possible, then she took the big djembe and played it so gently and quietly, asking of it only what she absolutely needed for the song. Both extremes were quite powerful. Then, our host Maggie got up on stage with her guitar, and she seemed to be friends with everyone there, so they were all cheering her on. She sang in a bright pleasant voice with a lot of sass about how all the guys who dumped her in the past were missing out cause she really was the best thing they ever saw. Her songs were a lighthearted and funny girl power moment in the course of the evening. There was this hippy/eastern guru guy named Julian who wore a brightly colored wrap up cloth, kind of like what Ghandi wore, just not white. He would say things like "I really want to hear what you're saying, but it's hard to pay attention to you when there are German songs playing so loudly in my head." He sat around reading fortunes, and generally being mystical, until it was his turn to perform, and he sang Ave Maria a capella. He was impossible not to notice! Now, on the other end of the 
garish spectrum, there was quiet Nate, who was a tall lanky guy 
with a pony tail. He sat in the back drinking a beer most of the night. When he got on stage, he sang a song about meeting Jesus in a 5 star hotel. He was relaxing, and it turns out that he keeps a loaf and a fish with him in his pockets. When they were done talking, Jesus turned to leave and walked across the pool! It was very funny. We exchanged CD's. There was M.T., a broad shouldered man who looked like he might have been of Native American descent. He was really nice to talk to. He sang tender songs about love as he gently strummed chords on his guitar. I enjoyed his songs, and he seemed to be well-liked by everyone there. There was a humbleness about him on and off stage that struck me.Now, I wish this next bit didn't sound as critical as it is going to, but I feel like I need to tell about this guy because he was part of our experience. I guess an open mic night wouldn't be complete without one cocky guy who is not aware that he can't play, write or sing, but who believes deeply that since he experienced an emotion, he must be the next Bob Dylan. It was just unfortunate that said emotional noisemaker used only cliched lyric after cliched lyric. Cliches are what people use when they want to hide themselves and keep a distance from who they are talking too, rather than tell of their feelings and reactions honestly. It was such an accepting wonderful atmosphere, and the overall quality of the night was so high, he would've been embraced, I think, if he had been honest in his lyrics, even if he sang and played badly. But alas, even though there were a lot of words he managed to actually express nothing. Beyond pomposity. At projecting that he was actually quite skilled. Let's just leave it at that. After everyone who signed the list had gotten to play, there was a free-for-all till the Cafe closed. Whoever got to the stage with their insturment in hand got to play again. We played I Love The Way You Smell, and Kayte played another song, both to more cheers. As the night concluded, we just didn't want to leave. We hung out till past closing. There was a little community outside all night long, with the smokers, and the artist doing portraits. He did Kayte's and Maggie's too. Julian was reading fortunes, with less than acurate results acording to Denise! We loaded up, but were in no hurry to leave. Then, a little bit of adventure, Maggie's car wouldn't start, and there was a flurry of activity to help her. I didn't have any jumper cables, so I couldn't do anything. We just hung around talking more with our new friends. The Kick Butt Cafe has a martial arts theme and is owned by Master Gohring, who also has a martial arts academy. They sold rubber throwing stars and padded nunchucks at the counter, so I got a star. Kevin informed that they actually hurt, as it bounced off of him in the parking lot. :-) They finally got Maggie's car started, and it just made perfect sense that Milan, the hard-edged avante garde punk metal solo acoustic bassist drove a big beat up truck and had jumper cables handy. Amazing night, really.
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